New Member VT03A3 Researching Dad's WW2 Service

Hi Everyone,

I'm trying to find what my Dad did in WW2 from the time he went to England in May 1944 until he got back to the States in the summer of 1945. His personnel records were destroyed in the 1973 St Louis archives fire. I have his discharge papers and final pay voucher. These aren't much help. He landed in Normandy on June 12 1944. If I could find what second armored units landed on that date, it would be a great start.

From 1941 until April 1944 he was in the New Jersey guard 132nd infantry, doing shore patrol in NJ and DE. That unit was disabnded when the guys went overseas. He mustered out as a member of the 2905th Engineer Depot Platoon. This was mostly a labor detail formed from the 1274th Engineer Combat Batallion. He may have been a member of that.

Most of his stories related to his service in a tank, although he was not trained stateside as a tanker. He also served as a truck driver, as an infantry man, was wounded by shrapnel in November 1944, was a squad leader, and was in the Battle of the Bulge. He served under General Harmon in the 2nd Armored and was a member of Omar Bradley's First Army. He was a pfc his whole time in service. He said he refused OCS a couple of times.

Any advice on where to turn next is appreciated.

 

Welcome to the forums!

 

Welcome to this forum VT03A3 :cheers:!

 

Welcome to the Forum.

 

Could you post his discharge paper? My brother was in the 2nd Armored and I have quite a few reference books on the 2nd.
If I can see what unit he was in , in the division , I think I could be of some help.
Welcome to the forum.

 

Welcome to the forum

 

Thanks, everyone. Glad to be here. I think "disbanded" was too strong a word in regard to the 132nd. What I found was a reference to a letter from another member of that unit to his mother in April of 1944. He said it was being "broken up" and he implied that he was going to be sent overseas. Certainly my Dad didn't remain with the unit when he shipped to England in May. How he ended up in the Second Armored, I have no idea. I also have no idea what unit he was in. His discharge papers say the 2905th Engineer Depot Platoon. As I said earlier, that was apparently formed in April of 1945, as my dad prepared to leave the conflict. So, what I have is his recollection of landing in Normandy on June 12, 1944. If I knew what units of the Second Armored landed on that day, I'd know he had to be in one of them. Also, he said they had to waterproof their tank, but when they landed, they drove right onto the beach. He was probably in the 66th or 67th armored regiment, but it may have been the 702nd TD battalion. He had a pretty detailed recollection of the M18.

 

If you have an electronic copy of his discharge papers it'd be good to share it, might give us some hints.

 

The 702nd TD Bn landed with M10's late on June 11, 44.

 

I have the Regimental history of the 67th Armored Regiment which has a roster of all the men that were attached to that regiment.
But without his name or his separation paper it will have to remain a guessing game.

 

Hi, sorry I haven't scanned the discharge papers yet. I may get to it this weekend. He was Kenneth G. Magoon, PFC.

As I said, his last unit was the 2905th Engineer Depot Platoon. I did get all the records that referenced that from the National Archives. Both documents were from after the war in Europe was over so he was understandably not listed. I did email the Eisenhower Library, because they have records of the 1274th Engineer Combat Battalion, which provided many men to the 2905th. I have not heard back yet. I don't know if they have the same sort of services as other National archives. If anyone has advice about dealing with them, I'd appreciate it.

I called the Museum of the New Jersey National Guard. They found all the stories of his service there quite familiar, but said all their records went to St. Louis because the 132nd was federalized in 1940. They couldn't offer any further help. I know he did shore patrol there and in Georgetown, Deleware, where he and my Mom were married and lived until he shipped out.

In Europe, I know he was in Paris, Nancy, Belgium, was near Bastogne and was at Remagen at some point. He said once he crossed the Rhine, the told him to go back to England by whatever means he could find. He had battle fatigue from 180 days on the front.

 

EPL has a relatively small staff compared to what NARA has, but they are very helpful. I would not necessarily expect a quick response, but I'm sure they will respond. If it has been more than 2 weeks, maybe send an email requesting confirmation that your initial query was received.

 

Kenneth G. Magoon does not show up on the 67th Regiment roster. I don't have a roster for the 66th. He was not a member of the 2nd Armored Association ( a very small percent of the guys joined).

Usually a Purple Heart will have GO ( general order) number followed by the unit he was in when it was issued. If it was issued while an evacuation hospital, that may show up. If he was wounded in November and was involved in the Bulge in December, he wasn't in the hospital too long--he may have been treated in the field hospital where his unit would be listed.

As a unit, the 2nd Armored didn't enter Paris, they were further north. The division advanced far north of Nancy, France, and also crossed the Rhine north of Cologne at a little place named Wesel, Germany. It was the 9th Armored Division (also attached to the 1st Army) that raced to Remagen bridge before the Germans could completely destroy it and crossed the Rhine there. He may have visited these places, but if he fought with the 2nd Armored, he didn't fight there.

With his wound and his history of combat fatigue, he was probably issued some amount of disability and the VA would have a record of this. These records were not involved in the 73 fire at the archives so it might be a real possibility to learn something by contacting them. I might be able to gleen something from the separation when you get it posted. Sorry I can't be of more assistance.

 

Thanks for looking, Buten42, and for the good advice. I will check with the VA. I think my nephew has his purple heart. Would that information be inscribed on the medal itself?

I'm pretty sure the visit to Paris was on some sort of leave. He always talked about the big round unisex toilets they had. As far as Nancy goes, I'm not sure, but he liked the spelling and the French pronunciation. I got the impression he might have crossed at Remagen, perhaps on the later pontoon bridge. I mentioned seeing a show about it once, and all he said was "I was there". He didn't imply that he fought there.

He mentioned having to "go down to Bastogne to help relieve the 101'st". Since he was north, I think he was referring to the battle of the Samree ridge that ran down to Bastogne. He said it was tricky driving a tank on the icy roads at night, but he was better at it than most. He had grown up in rural Vermont and had driven logging trucks in the winter in the White Mountains of New Hampshire before the war.

I regret that I didn't ask more questions while he was alive, but his service was very traumatic to him. We didn't want to rip open old wounds. He drank a lot until he joined AA when I was nine. He did have a small disability pension, but that was for a skin condition that they thought was connected to his service.

He died of pneumonia at age 77 as a complication of Parkinson's disease. He had concussive damage from exposure to artillary and explosions and also had a lot of exposure to DDT. They caught lice from German prisoners having used their latrine and had to "take a bath in it". Those things may have contributed to his Parkinsons. He mentioned a period where they had artillary "lined up for 50 miles hub-to-hub." They were firing all night, and they slept under the guns because "it was the only safe place".

He never talked of the really bad stuff, but his "lighter" stories were sobering. There was one about how a sniper had been harrassing their unit. His gunner was in the tank by himself, looking around through the sight. He spotted the guy way off in an upper floor of a burned out factory building, sitting in an executive chair with his feet up on the blown out window-sill. The gunner loaded a round himself and dropped a HE right in the guy's lap. That ended the sniper problem.

Another time they were driving along and spotted two Germans walking across a hillside a long way off. The gunner put a HE round right between them. "We could have got in trouble for that because it was $32.00 a round."

He mentioned having a tanker's rifle. When two Germans ran out of the bushes in front of them and raced off on a motorcycle, he shot out the back tire.

I also remember seeing a film of some soldiers standing around waiting to go into a town while wave after wave of bombers reduced it to rubble. The camera shook from the concussion, like an eathquake. He said he was one of those guys. I think it may have been Caen.

He had shrapnel in his body from a bombardment when he was in a fox hole. He could never wear a watch because it did something to them and they would stop running. He said he saw his friend Danny take a round "right in his fox hole" and then the smoke cleared and Danny walked out unscathed. He said "there are no atheists in fox holes."

 

The information on the Purple Heart should be in box #33on his separation paper-under awards and decorations.
Decorations were issued at Regiment or Division level and was included in a GO. A General Order would have a list of all the guys that were awarded Bronze Stars, Silver Stars, Purple Hearts, etc during a specific time frame. Later, another GO would be issued I include another list. From his stories it's hard to put a finger on weather he was in a tank or a TD. Some of the armor experts might be able to get more of a feel. I'm leaning toward the 702nd, but I do believe he was with the 2nd Armored.

 

Reading the 702nd AAR's/S-3 Reports for Dec, 44-Jan, 45, shows them moving to the vicinities of Celles/Ciney/Atrin, Belgium, in late Dec. They then began moving to the east/southeast with Company B assisting with the taking of Samree on Jan 9-10.

The unit trained with M18's and had transitioned from their M10's to the M36 destroyer in November. I didn't see your father's name in the lists of wounded personnel for 44/45 but, unfortunately, we don't have a full unit roster.